


Omniscient

by ivyspinners



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bad Wolf, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-15 23:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyspinners/pseuds/ivyspinners
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her hair is still lit with flecks of gold, but the light between her fingers is dimmer: no longer a halo, but a flickering sort of blur. And she says, "The universe is ending, so I am too. But you knew that." During 5x13</p>
            </blockquote>





	Omniscient

**Author's Note:**

> For [Then There's Us](http://then-theres-us.livejournal.com/)'s Challenge #95.

He is, maybe, a second away from being wiped out of existence (it's all right if it's just him, daft old man who lived beyond his years; but he wouldn't mind living more) and the barely-remembered song fills his ears. Or maybe, _barely-forgotten_ fits better: sounds and shapes twice purged by the energy of change, for the sake of a mind that could take more time and space than any other in the universe, but not this much.

He doesn't see her face at first. The glow is bright, spilling across the inside of the Pandorica, and denying the truth is so very last regeneration, so he says, "Bad Wolf. _You're_ not looking very well."

There shouldn't be room for her, but what is time, space, with the universe collapsing? Her hair is still lit with flecks of gold, but the light between her fingers is dimmer: no longer a halo, but a flickering sort of blur. She no longer makes other objects seem like mere shadows compared to her very existence.

And she says, "The universe is ending, so I am too. But you knew that."

It's such a human voice, lodged within eternal splendor. The words are more painful for that, as they always have been.

"You'll start again."

She bites her lip, doesn't answer. It's not reassurance enough. He's always been terrible at that.

He leans forwards, and the straps bite into his shoulders. Teach him to be bound up so tight, that even this body, which hugs almost as easily as the one that came before, is doomed to feel bereft. The sensation grounds him, reminding him of the present.

"I," he says, "should not be existing by now. Do I still exist?" All of time and space in her head, everything compressed into one moment. "Sorry. Silly question. Right, retract that, new one: why do I _still_ exist?"

Now her face fills his vision, her breath tickling his skin. From her expression, it's _still_ a silly question. "Because I'm here, and I wanted to talk to you." But you're dying, is his unspoken thought. His answered thought, when she replies anyway. "I can still do this much."

He stares, for a moment. Her face isn't serene, tainted with traces of confusion in the lines above her brow, the trouble gaze flicking from the present one instant, to a distant time in the next. She meets his eyes, and instead of forever, he sees only a fraction, a slice of eternity left: the rest of time and space as it collapses outside.

"Bad Wolf," the Doctor murmurs. "Why are you _here_?"

"Because... I don't know," she tells him, as though it were simplest fact. She sounds almost hesitant.

"You know everything, even if you don't understand it," he says impatiently.

"Everything except what comes next," she whispers, and oh, yes, he should have known her meaning at once. She exists every time, every place, but she won't exist in the next instant, and the feeling is a new unwelcome one. Her hand almost touches his as she stretches out, almost. "I think... I'm here because you're here, and I'm afraid."

It's such a new, blinding concept. The omniscient, truly omniscient, not knowing. He tries not to let the awe show on his face. Concepts are rarely new, rarely blinding now -- all of the universe is a back yard -- and they're never easily understood or dealt with. (She always manages to surprise him.) But this... he thinks he knows what to do.

"Rose Tyler," he tells her, gentle, and with those words, the urge to touch her is terrible in his fingers. The sensation is distant compared to what it once was, new direction and purpose borne out of the old (painful) ashes of regeneration, but comfort for the young, wiping the sadness off this face in particular -- it's more familiar than her song.

Her tears are translucent gold one instant, and then clear the next, because the glow fades into invisible warmth like the expression on her face.

"Yes. Yeah, that's me." She pauses, and says, so heavy, "That's _me_."

"Rose?" he asks, as she recovers.

She takes a deep breath, and looks around, because just being there is no longer knowing: she has to see now. "Nice." Rose raises an eyebrow. Both eyebrows.

Humans. They'll never cease to amaze him: at this instant, it's not the immortal side that will be the strong one.

"Do you know why you came?" He grins widely at her dubious expression. "It's because _I'm_ afraid."

Her grin is also wide, but somehow rueful. "I always knew that swagger was an act."

"Only sometimes!"

Rose laughs. He pauses. Just for a moment.

"Right!" he says. "Shall we wait, then?"

"Two frightened people waiting for the end?" she teases. He starts to protest, but for she actually cuts him off. "I'd like that."

She doesn't hug him, but their hands clasp.

"Doctor? Thank you."

"Happy to help." Thank _you_.

Her touch is unfamiliar now, almost beyond memory (but never, not really). Their hands almost but don't quite fit, but that's enough. It's all she (he) needed.

White overtakes gold, and that's the old universe ending, the new one exploding into existence, and somewhere, Rose Tyler is nineteen and about to meet him again. Somewhere the Bad Wolf is fading away, and a new song is being sung into existence on the other side.

A moment later, he no longer exists outside a fairytale.


End file.
